Thursday, March 11, 2010

Nail-art is a recurring theme on seiyuu blogs. Not as recurring as food, of course, but recurring. According to seiyuu Katou Emiri's blog, every month she and Fukuhara Kaori go together to get their nails done.

The two seiyuus have been good friends since they played the Hiiragi sisters -- Kagami and Tsukasa -- in Lucky Star. Here they are during rehearsals for a Lucky Star live event not too long ago (Emirin left, Kaorin right):

They went to the nail studio together at the end of last month. For spring, Emirin chose a pale look for her nails, with a white fringe, small red and green stones, and tiny butterflies on the nails with green stones:I'm not a huge fan of nail art, but I think this is pretty -- and unobtrusive. Kaorin chose a stronger aqua color for the energy of spring, scattered with clear rhinestones:

The same day, they "did maintenance on our powerstones." They have bracelets whose stones they change to gain energy and good luck from stones that match the month or mood or season. This time, Emirin put some pale stones between the basic crystal stones that make up the bracelet:

Emirin says they went afterwards and ate curry at a favorite cafe, then both bought packets of sauce to use at home in the future. A few days later, when Emirin texted Kaorin that she was using the sauce that night, she was amazed to find that Kaorin was doing the same. "Even though I've heard that good friends tend to act alike," wrote Emirin on her blog, "I was really surprised."

When they got together this time, they were both wearing pale colors. The time before, they dressed alike, too, says Emirin.

Here are candid shots of the two women from their respective blogs. Emirin left, Kaorin right:

And here are a couple of more formal publicity shots, Emirin left, Kaorin right:

Right now, Emirin is appearing in Baka to Test as both the extremely popular trap character Hideyoshi and as his twin sister Yuuko. She is also playing Isuzu in Ookamikakushi. She will play Sekine in Angel Beats!, a new anime starting net month.

Kaorin starred in Charger Girl Juuden-chan last year, as well as playing Koromo in Saki, among other roles. She will co-star in the OVA Ashiaraiyashiki no Juunin-tachi, which comes out on March 25.

Hashihime

The "Hashihime" or "Bridge Princesses," are characters in the novel The Tale of Genji (Genji Monogatari 源氏物語）. They are daughters of a disgraced prince, living alone with him in a small house at Uji, outside Kyoto. They are important characters in the last ten chapters of the novel.

The Genji can be considered the first real novel in the history of the world. It was written around 1000 AD by a Japanese court lady known as Lady Murasaki, or Murasaki Shikibu.

I think contemporary Japanese literature, including anime and manga, continues to preserve aspects of the Genji, among them sensitive psychological observation, a general passion for romance, and romantic interest in young girls. The main hero of the thousand-page novel, Prince Genji, had a number of present and former girlfriends living in his palace, and basically abducted his principal wife Murasaki when she was ten, marrying her when she was around 15.

notes

-- all Japanese names are written in Japanese order: surname first, given name second-- I claim no copyright on anything in this blog, unless otherwise stated